The year of the seal

by Victor B. Scheffer

Other authorsLeonard Everett Fisher (Illustrator)
Hardcover, 1970

Status

Available

Publication

New York, Scribner [1970]

User reviews

LibraryThing member flamingrosedrakon
This was a book that I had laying around and even though I started on the book I would get distracted by another. Luckily I chose to read this book for the Reading Challenge 2015 as a book owned but never read.

This is an interesting although somewhat outdated book about the Alaskan fur seal. The
Show More
author does a majestic job of weaving you into the story of not only the year for the Golden Seal, a breeding female, but also into the lives of some of her peers. While reading through each month you are also introduced into glimpses of the lives of others such as the bull that impregnated her with her second pup, young seals captured in the rookery for human experiments, her wandering first year pup when he leaves Tolstoi and so many more creatures.

And twisting around all this are the acts both good and bad of man towards this creature. You see the devastation, the cruel necessity of learning, the needless slaughter and torment. There is a chance to see the past of man slowly fading as they give way to the newer times and of course the pompous officials always arguing but never getting around.

This book was beautifully written with enough facts to educate but presented in such a way that you aren't flooded over by the non-fiction. At the same time he is careful and detailed around his writing so you are taken to the home of the fur seal both when land-bound and in the sea.

What made me enjoy the book so much more was also the emotional depth even though the creature wasn't given much of emotional depth. It is nostalgic, primitive and yet hauntingly lovely. It made me cringe and anger at stupid killings of so much animals in the name of science as well as for management needs and fur. This book is an eye-opener whether good or bad is up to you....
Show Less

Language

Local notes

Signed author sticker on half title. Floyd Schmoe's copy with his signature to half-title

Barcode

4468
Page: 0.486 seconds